Mexico not considering oil output cut now

Mexico cannot consider cutting oil output at the moment and has not been contacted by either OPEC members or other crude producers to discuss the international oil market, Energy Minister Pedro Joaquin Coldwell told Reuters on Tuesday.

Coldwell’s comments came after Iranian oil minister Bijan Zanganeh was quoted on Tuesday as saying that Tehran supports any step to help the recovery of the oil market.

“Mexico is not influencing overproduction because Mexico’s oil output has been steadily declining,” Coldwell said on the sidelines of an energy conference in Mexico City.

“It would be unacceptable for us to have to cut when our output is already declining,” he said. “It is not an option.”

Coldwell did not specifically respond to the report earlier on Tuesday by Iran’s Shana state news agency, which cited Zanganeh as saying that Mexico’s visiting labour minister, Alfonso Navarrete, had voiced Mexico’s readiness to cooperate with OPEC if the organization becomes involved in oil market management.

Venezuela has for months been pushing for an emergency OPEC meeting and joint coordination with non-OPEC members like Russia to stem a tumble in oil prices, but with little success.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said on Tuesday that the global price of oil, which has slid more than half in the last year, should be a minimum $70 per barrel in order for necessary petroleum investments to be maintained.

Maduro was speaking after a trip to Vietnam, China and Qatar where he sought to promote an emergency summit for heads of state of OPEC countries to defend prices.

However, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries’ relatively wealthy members in the Gulf appear to have little enthusiasm for a summit. They drove the group’s strategy shift last year to allow prices to fall to defend market share.